GOALS AND PROGRESS FEEDBACK - EFFECTS ON SELF-EFFICACY AND WRITING ACHIEVEMENT

Two experiments investigated how goal setting and progress feedback affect self-efficacy and writing achievement. Children received writing strategy instruction and were given a process goal of learning the strategy, a product goal of writing paragraphs, or a general goal of working productively. Half of the process goal children periodically received feedback on their progress in learning the strategy. In Experiment 2 we also explored transfer (maintenance and generalization) of achievement outcomes. The process goal with progress feedback treatment had the greatest impact on achievement outcomes to include maintenance and generalization; the process goal without feedback condition resulted in some benefits compared with the product and general goal conditions. Self-efficacy was highly predictive of writing skill and strategy use. Suggestions for future research and implications for classroom practice are discussed. © 1993 Academic Press, Inc.